Kansas Attorney General and Republican gubernatorial candidate Derek Schmidt pushed back against NYC Mayor Eric Adam’s criticism of the Sunflower State on Todd Starnes Show.
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In a recent press conference, Adams made a jab at the Midwestern state saying that, unlike Kansas, NYC actually has a brand.
The mayor’s unprovoked comment sparked criticism online as many Kansans were quick to defend the state they love.
“Mayor who?” Schmidt wrote on Twitter in response to Adams. “Kansas isn’t New York and we sure as heck don’t want to be. I’ll stay focused here in God’s Country on making life more affordable and keeping communities safe, neither of which can be said about New York.”
Mayor who? Kansas isn’t New York and we sure as heck don’t want to be. I’ll stay focused here in God’s Country on making life more affordable and keeping communities safe, neither of which can be said about New York. https://t.co/E5y8MfVmDe
— Derek Schmidt (@DerekSchmidtKS) September 27, 2022
Schmidt told host Todd Starnes that, just like Adams, Kansas’s current Democrat governor does not share the values of the Midwestern state.
“We love our Midwestern life out here on the prairie,” Schmidt told Starnes. “And you know what? Kansas doesn’t want to be New York, and especially right now with the kind of left progressive leadership that they have sort of chronic up there, all kinds of problems. And, you know, what’s it say about our own Democratic governor here in Kansas that even one of her own is now criticizing the state under her leadership?”
He continued, “Look, we have a governor who is just out of step with most Kansas values, you know, who won’t stand up to the Biden administration, who isn’t focused on the issues that Kansans are most passionate about right now, which is the ability to pay their bills and sort of the cost of daily life.”
Listen to the full conversation here:
The following is a rush transcript from the Todd Starnes Show which airs daily from noon to 3:00 p.m. EST.
TODD STARNES: [00:59:21] He wants to be the next Republican governor there. Currently the attorney general of the great state, Derek Schmidt, and he is on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker Line. Mr. Attorney General, good to have you with us today. [00:59:32][10.8]
ATTORNEY GENERAL DEREK SCHMIDT (R-KS): [00:59:33] Hey, thanks for having me on. I’m out here in God’s country, you know. [00:59:37][3.7]
STARNES: [00:59:37] Well, amen. And it’s a beautiful state you have. I don’t know why in the world the mayor of New York City is taking a shot at Kansas. [00:59:44][6.6]
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SCHMIDT: [00:59:45] Well, who knows? We love our Midwestern life out here on the prairie. And you know what? Kansas doesn’t want to be New York, and especially right now with the kind of left progressive leadership that they have sort of chronic up there, all kinds of problems. And, you know, what’s it say about our own Democratic governor here in Kansas that even one of her own is now criticizing the state under her leadership? So, you know, I’m running for governor because I want to be sure that we get the state back on the right track. And we got a governor who was born in New York and apparently picked up some bad habits in her young formative years. And so, you know, we’re focused on Second Amendment rights. We believe in that in Kansas. They certainly don’t in New York City. We’re focused on making sure that folks can afford their life each and every day. And they just keep spending and spending and spending. And Governor Kelly’s administration and up in New York City, we don’t think that biological males ought to be competing in girls sports, and Governor Kelly does, just like they do in New York City. So we’ve got a lot of progress that we’ve got to make out here in Kansas. We’ve got room to improve, but we’re proud of this place. [01:00:41][55.6]
STARNES: [01:00:42] Well, look, it’s a great state you have. And, you know, we’ve got a lot of listeners in the state of Kansas. I know we’ve got KQAM, our great radio affiliate in Wichita, good people, hardworking people, churchgoing people. And it’s pretty repulsive that at least to this point, the governor hasn’t even posted a message condemning or calling out her fellow Democrat, Eric Adams, for taking a cheap shot at the good people of Kansas. [01:01:08][26.9]
SCHMIDT: [01:01:10] Well, it was a cheap shot. But look, here’s the bottom line. I mean, you know, the leadership in New York City and the leadership in the Kansas governor’s office right now, they are all folks who they have the same political party, very similar philosophies. They stand with Joe Biden on nearly everything. They find excuses about Biden’s failures. And it’s just really unfortunate that, you know, Kansas finds itself in this position. We’ve got to fix that in the election this fall. And believe me, I’ll stand up to the mayor of New York and sing our praises all day long. [01:01:39][29.1]
STARNES: [01:01:39] I love it. I mean, you got what, Bob Dole, a favored son, Dwight Eisenhower, a very nice airport, by the way. Amelia Earhart and of course, Superman. So it’s a pretty good list of dignitaries from Kansas. [01:01:54][14.3]
SCHMIDT: [01:01:55] We’ve got a lot to be proud of. And look, this is America out here. We love this life. We believe in God and country. We just think people ought to be free to live their lives the way they wish to live them. They want to live with traditional values and with faith that is the way things ought to be. That’s how we look at things out here. So we love Kansas. Please come out and visit us. We’d love you to come here, befriend us, spend a little bit of money, and you’ll leave feeling proud about America. [01:02:20][25.4]
STARNES: [01:02:21] You know, Mr. Attorney General, I will say this. When it comes to politics in Kansas, you guys are a little quirky. I just don’t get the rhyme or reason to some of these Democrats who get elected. How is the election looking and what is it going to take for Republicans to retake the statehouse in Topeka? [01:02:38][17.0]
SCHMIDT: [01:02:39] Well, I think this race looks very good. It’s a close race. But as we’re coming down the stretch here, I think things are moving strongly in our direction. Look, we have a governor who is just out of step with most Kansas values, you know, who won’t stand up to the Biden administration, who isn’t focused on the issues that Kansans are most passionate about right now, which is the ability to pay their bills and sort of the cost of daily life. She’s on the wrong side of a lot of education issues, especially during the lockdowns. I mean, my goodness, she locked kids out of school and then tried to lock parents out of school by vetoing a parent’s bill of rights. And, you know, folks just understand that we can do so much better out here. We’re going to get this thing right this time. We’re going to win this and Kansas will be better for it. [01:03:19][40.0]
STARNES: [01:03:20] What, aside from the economy, I know crime has been a huge issue for a lot of cities and communities around the nation. What about there in your state? [01:03:28][8.2]
SCHMIDT: [01:03:30] Yeah, I mean, certainly we have issues in parts of our state, as we often do. One of the big challenges we have right now is the amount of fentanyl that’s flooding our streets. You know, Kansas has an opioid problem, like so much of the country, fentanyl has arrived in Kansas in large numbers a bit later than it did in some other parts of the country. But it’s here now with a vengeance. And one of the reasons for that, a principal reason for that is, you know, Joe Biden’s decision to abandon security along the southern border. This fentanyl isn’t manufactured in Kansas. It’s manufactured south of the border, usually from Chinese precursor chemicals smuggled across the the southern border. And then it becomes poison on our streets that kills our kids or our citizens otherwise. And that’s one of the things we have sort of criticized the Biden administration on very strongly in our campaign. I was at the border early this year. We stood up and sued President Biden in several areas, trying to keep remain in Mexico and place Title 42 in place. And, you know, on the other side of that equation, we’ve got a governor right now who not only doesn’t criticize Joe Biden’s retreat from border security, even though it’s resulting in such harm in our Kansas communities with fentanyl and related crime. But, you know, when pushed on that, she actually says that it’s a political game when border states ask for help from other states like Kansas. So we got to get this one right. [01:04:45][75.8]
STARNES: [01:04:46] And something that is certainly unique to Kansas, I mean, you guys are a big farming state, agriculture, huge. And we hear from a lot of farmers who listen to this show as they’re riding on their tractors out in the fields. And Mr. Attorney General, they tell us that the Biden administration has their thumb on them and they need the government off their backs. [01:05:08][21.5]
SCHMIDT: [01:05:10] 100 percent. I mean, that is perhaps the, if not the number one, the number two issue, along with just the affordability of daily life, which of course, is tied to Biden and his policies. That’s is the number one thing I hear from Kansans traveling around the state. They’re worried. I mean, they’re worried about the future of our country, about the country we’re going to leave to our kids. They’re worried about preserving our freedoms. They’re worried about this explosive growth in big government from the Biden administration and from the Kelly administration in Topeka. At the end of the day, they just want to be largely left alone, to pass on our heritage to the next generation, to earn a living, to live life the way we want to, to raise the kids we the way we want to. And, you know, Joe Biden’s big government approach to everything, printing so much money, regulating everything, trying to rewrite rules like the Title nine rules to compel, you know, things that just aren’t shared values by an awful lot of Kansans. At the end of the day, that’s the wrong direction for this state. And we’ve got to have a governor who’s willing to stand up and push back and not either just get along to go along or just sort of stand silent. We can be so much better. [01:06:11][61.6]
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STARNES: [01:06:12] And, you know, again, Derek Schmidt, by the way, running for governor, he’s the Republican nominee in Kansas on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker Line. And Mr. Attorney General, one of the things I like about you is that you’re your own man, but you’re also embracing some of the ideas coming from other governors, and specifically Ron DeSantis. And I know he was campaigning. You guys were appearing alongside each other and talking about those policies. And what I love about DeSantis is he’s not afraid to push back with the media. He’s gracious about it, but he’s tough. And I see the same thing in you and how you been conducting your campaign. [01:06:49][37.3]
SCHMIDT: [01:06:51] Well, thank you. I take that as high praise. I was very proud to have Governor DeSantis in Kansas and supporting, as we had Governor Youngkin here just last week from Virginia and supporting us with a lot of support from other Republican governors in our neighborhood out here in the Midwest. Look, I mean, we do what’s right for Kansas each and every day. Sometimes that involves looking at what other states have done with strong leadership and saying that’s a good idea. How do we make that, you know, work for our people here? And the vast majority of those good ideas come from Republican governors who are right on liberty. They are right on finances. They are right on respecting the views of their people. And we can do so much better here in Kansas. [01:07:32][41.1]
STARNES: [01:07:32] All right. Well, Mr. Attorney General, look forward to having you back on the show. Maybe as we get closer to the election and soon we hope to be able to call you. Governor Schmidt. [01:07:42][9.7]
SCHMIDT: [01:07:43] Thank you so much. I appreciate it and look forward to talking with you soon. [01:07:47][3.4]